Cardinals’ potential Josh Rosen trade partners snap up QBs in draft

By Kevin Zimmerman | April 25, 2019 at 7:34 pmUPDATED: April 26, 2019 at 12:29 am

Daniel Jones #17 of the Duke Blue Devils rolls out against the Virginia Tech Hokies during their game at Wallace Wade Stadium on September 29, 2018 in Durham, North Carolina. Virginia Tech won 31-14. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

It appears the Arizona Cardinals lost a couple potential trade partners for Josh Rosen not long after taking fellow quarterback Kyler Murray to kick off the 2019 NFL Draft.

The New York Giants surprised by selecting Duke quarterback Daniel Jones with the No. 6 pick, landing them veteran Eli Manning’s potential replacement.

Then the Washington Redskins added a young quarterback by taking Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins, who fell to No. 15.

As it stands, that leaves the Miami Dolphins as one potential partner who could be interested in taking Rosen off Arizona’s hands. Miami GM Chris Grier side-stepped questions about Rosen while the first round of the draft was ongoing on Thursday night.

“We’re investigating all avenues,” he told reporters. “We’re looking at all options at every position.”

The Cardinals admitted they took trade calls about Rosen following the first round.

General manager Steve Keim didn’t deny Arizona could potentially trade Rosen, but he made it clear the team open to keeping both Rosen and Murray heading into camp.

“Bottom line is Josh is a really good football player. We’re not going to get in the business of letting good football players walk out of here,” Keim said.

Arizona head coach Kliff Kingsbury wouldn’t address who between Rosen and Murray might be the favorite to become the starter. He spoke with Rosen on the phone before the team selected Murray and expected nothing on Rosen’s end will change; the Cardinals have lauded his professionalism throughout the draft process as the rumors that Arizona loved Murray mounted.

“The conversation (with Rosen) was good,” Kingsbury said. “Obviously it is what it is, tough business and he understands that, but his professionalism has been outstanding throughout the entire thing.

“I don’t expect that to be any different when he comes back.”

New York, Miami and the Los Angeles Chargers were the three teams that had, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, called the Cardinals with interest in Rosen, Arizona’s No. 10 overall pick from last year’s draft. None of those talks were recent, Schefter said.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport also named Washington as a potential suitor for Rosen, but they selected a falling Haskins, who was viewed by many as the top quarterback in the draft.

That came after the Dolphins used the 13th overall pick to take Clemson defensive tackle Christian Wilkins. The Giants, who after drafting Jones sixth also held the 17th pick, used their second first-rounder to take Wilkins’ college teammate, defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence.